be fired, which was the signal agreed upon with me to give me notice of
his success, which you may be sure I was very glad to hear, having sat
watching upon the shore for it till near two o'clock in the morning.
Having thus heard the signal plainly, I laid me down; and it having been
a day of great fatigue to me, I slept very sound, till I was something
surprised with the noise of a gun; and presently starting up, I heard a
man call me by the name of Governor, Governor, and presently I knew the
captain's voice; when climbing up to the top of the hill, there he
stood, and pointing to the ship, he embraced me in his arms. "My dear
friend and deliverer," says he, "there's your ship, for she is all
your's, and so are we, and all that belong to her." I cast my eyes to
the ship, and there she rode within little more than half a mile of the
shore; for they had weighed her anchor as soon as they were masters of
her, and the weather being fair, had brought her to an anchor just
against the mouth of the little creek; and the tide being up, the
captain had brought the pinnace in near the place where I at first
landed my rafts, and so landed just at my door, I was at first ready to
sink down with the surprise; for I saw my deliverance, indeed, visibly
put into my hands, all things easy, and a large ship just ready to carry
me away whither I pleased to go. At first, for some time, I was not able
to answer him one word; but as he had taken me in his arms, I held fast
by him, or I should have fallen to the ground. He perceived the
surprise, and immediately pulls a bottle out of his pocket, and gave me
a dram of cordial, which he had brought on purpose for me. After I had
drank it, I sat down upon the ground; and though it brought me to
myself, yet it was a good while before I could speak a word to him. All
this time the poor man was in as great an ecstasy as I, only not under
any surprise, as I was; and he said a thousand kind and tender things to
me, to compose and bring me to myself: but such was the flood of joy in
my breast, that it put all my spirits into confusion; at last it broke
out into tears; and in a little while after I recovered my speech. I
then took my turn, and embraced him as my deliverer, and we rejoiced
together. I told him I looked upon him as a man sent from Heaven to
deliver me, and that the whole transaction seemed to be a chain of
wonders; that such things as these were the testimonies we had of a
secret hand of Providence governing the world, and an evidence that the
eye of an infinite power could search into the remotest corner of the
world, and send help to the miserable whenever he pleased. I forgot not
to lift up my heart in thankfulness to Heaven; and what heart could
forbear to bless him, who had not only in a miraculous manner provided
for me in such a wilderness, and in such a desolate condition, but from
whom every deliverance must always be acknowledged to proceed?
When we had talked a while, the captain told me he had brought me some
little refreshment, such as the ship afforded, and such as the wretches
that had been so long his masters had not plundered him of. Upon this he
called aloud to the boat, and bade his men bring the things ashore that
were for the governor; and, indeed, it was a present as if I had been
one that was not to be carried away with them, but as if I had been to
dwell upon the island still. First, he had brought me a case of bottles
full of excellent cordial waters, six large bottles of Madeira wine,
(the bottles held two quarts each,) two pounds of excellent good
tobacco, twelve good pieces of the ship's beef, and six pieces of pork,
with a bag of peas, and about an hundred weight of biscuit: he also
brought me a box of sugar, a box of flour, a bag full of lemons, and two
bottles of lime juice, and abundance of other things. But, besides
these, and what was a thousand times more useful to me, he brought me
six new clean shirts, six very good neckcloths, two pair of gloves, one
pair of shoes, a hat, and one pair of stockings, with a very good suit
of clothes of his own, which had been worn but very little; in a word,
he clothed me from head to foot. It was a very kind and agreeable
present, as any one may imagine, to one in my circumstances; but never
was any thing in the world of that kind so unpleasant, awkward, and
uneasy, as it was to me to wear such clothes at first.
After these ceremonies were past, and after all his good things were
brought into my little apartment, we began to consult what was to be
done with the prisoners we had; for it was worth considering whether we
might venture to take them away with us or no, especially two of them,
whom he knew to be incorrigible and refractory to the last degree; and
the captain said he knew they were such rogues, that there was no
obliging them; and if he did carry them away, it must be in irons, as
malefactors, to be delivered over to justice at the first English colony
he could come at; and I found that the captain himself was very anxious
about it. Upon this I told him, that if he desired it, I would undertake
to bring the two men he spoke of to make it their own request that he
should leave them upon the island. "I should be very glad of that," says
the captain, "with all my heart."--"Well," says I, "I will send for
them up, and talk with them for you," So I caused Friday and the two
hostages, for they were now discharged, their comrades having performed
their promise; I say, I caused them to go to the cave, and bring up the
five men, pinioned as they were, to the bower, and keep them there till
I came. After some time, I came thither dressed in my new habit; and now
I was called governor again. Being all met, and the captain with me, I
caused the men to be brought before me, and I told them I had got a full
account of their villanous behaviour to the captain, and how they had
run away with the ship, and were, preparing to commit farther robberies,
but that Providence had ensnared them in their own ways, and that they
were fallen into the pit which they had dug for others. I let them know
that by my direction the ship had been seized; that she lay now in the
road; and they might see, by and by, that their new captain had received
the reward of his villany, and that they would see him hanging at the
yard-arm: that as to them, I wanted to know what they had to say why I
should not execute them as pirates, taken in the fact, as by my
commission they could not doubt but I had authority so to do.
One of them answered in the name of the rest, that they had nothing to
say but this, that when they were taken, the captain promised them their
lives, and they humbly implored my mercy. But I told them I knew not
what mercy to show them; for as for myself, I had resolved to quit the
island with all my men, and had taken passage with the captain to go for
England; and as for the captain, he could not carry them to England
other than as prisoners, in irons, to be tried for mutiny, and running
away with the ship; the consequence of which, they must needs know,
would be the gallows; so that I could not tell what was best for them,
unless they had a mind to take their fate in the island; if they desired
that, as I had liberty to leave the island, I had some inclination to
give them their lives, if they thought they could shift on shore. They
seemed very thankful for it, and said they would much rather venture to
stay there than be carried to England to be hanged: so I left it on
that issue.
However, the captain seemed to make some difficulty of it, as if he
durst not leave them there. Upon this I seemed a little angry with the
captain, and told him that they were my prisoners, not his; and that
seeing I had offered them so much favour, I would be as good as my word;
and that if he did not think fit to consent to it I would set them at
liberty, as I found them; and if he did not like it, he might take them
again if he could catch them. Upon this they appeared very thankful, and
I accordingly set them at liberty, and bade them retire into the woods
to the place whence they came, and I would leave them some fire-arms,
some ammunition, and some directions how they should live very well, if
they thought fit. Upon this I prepared to go on board the ship; but told
the captain I would stay that night to prepare my things, and desired
him to go on board, in the mean time, and keep all right in the ship,
and send the boat on shore next day for me; ordering him, at all events,
to cause the new captain, who was killed, to be hanged at the yard-arm,
that these men might see him.
When the captain was gone, I sent for the men up to me to my apartment,
and entered seriously into discourse with them on their circumstances. I
told them I thought they had made a right choice; that if the captain
had carried them away, they would certainly be hanged. I showed them the
new captain hanging at the yard-arm of the ship, and told them they had
nothing less to expect.
When they had all declared their willingness to stay, I then told them I
would let them into the story of my living there, and put them into the
way of making it easy to them: accordingly, I gave them the whole
history of the place, and of my coming to it; showed them my
fortifications, the way I made my bread, planted my corn, cured my
grapes; and, in a word, all that was necessary to make them easy. I told
them the story also of the seventeen Spaniards that were to be expected,
for whom I left a letter, and made them promise to treat them in common
with themselves. Here it may be noted, that the captain had ink on
board, who was greatly surprised that I never hit upon a way of making
ink of charcoal and water, or of something else, as I had done things
much more difficult.
I left them my fire-arms, viz. five-muskets, three fowling-pieces; and
three swords. I had above a barrel and a half of powder left; for after
the first year or two I used but little, and wasted none. I gave them a
description of the way I managed the goats, and directions to milk and
fatten them, and to make both butter and cheese: in a word, I gave them
every part of my own story; and told them I should prevail with the
captain to leave them two barrels of gunpowder more, and some garden
seeds, which I told them I would have been very glad of: also I gave
them the bag of peas which the captain had brought me to eat, and bade
them be sure to sow and increase them.
Having done all this, I left them the next day, and went on board the
ship. We prepared immediately to sail, but did not weigh that night. The
next morning early, two of the five men came swimming to the ship's
side, and making a most lamentable complaint of the other three, begged
to be taken into the ship, for God's sake, for they should be murdered,
and begged the captain to take them on board, though he hanged them
immediately. Upon this, the captain pretended to have no power without
me; but after some difficulty, and after their solemn promises of
amendment, they were taken on board, and were some time after soundly
whipped and pickled: after which they proved very honest and
quiet fellows.
Some time after this, the boat was ordered on shore, the tide being up,
with the things promised to the men; to which the captain, at my
intercession, caused their chests and clothes to be added, which they
took, and were very thankful for. I also encouraged them, by telling
them that if it lay in my power to send any vessel to take them in, I
would not forget them.
When I took leave of this island, I carried on board, for reliques, the
great goat-skin cap I had made, my umbrella, and one of my parrots; also
I forgot not to take the money I formerly mentioned, which had lain by
me so long useless, that it was grown rusty or tarnished, and could
hardly pass for silver, till it had been a little rubbed and handled; as
also the money I found in the wreck of the Spanish ship. And thus I left
the island, the 19th of December, as I found by the ship's account, in
the year 1686, after I had been upon it eight and twenty years, two
months, and nineteen days; being delivered from this second captivity
the same day of the month that I first made my escape in the long-boat,
from among the Moors of Sallee. In this vessel, after a long voyage, I
arrived in England the 11th of June, in the year 1687, having been
thirty-five years absent.
When I came to England, I was as perfect a stranger to all the world as
if I had never been known there. My benefactor and faithful steward,
whom I had left my money in trust with, was alive, but had had great
misfortunes in the world; was become a widow the second time, and very
low in the world. I made her very easy as to what she owed me, assuring
her I would give her no trouble; but on the contrary, in gratitude for
her former care and faithfulness to me, I relieved her as my
little-stock would afford; which, at that time, would indeed allow me to
do but little for her; but I assured her I would never forget her former
kindness to me; nor did I forget her when I had sufficient to help her,
as shall be observed in its proper place. I went down afterwards into
Yorkshire; but my father was dead, and my mother and all the family
extinct, except that I found two sisters, and two of the children of one
of my brothers; and as I had been long ago given over for dead, there
had been no provision made for me: so that, in a word, I found nothing
to relieve or assist me; and that the little money I had would not do
much for me as to settling in the world.
I met with one piece of gratitude, indeed, which I did not expect; and
this was, that the master of the ship whom I had so happily delivered,
and by the same means saved the ship and cargo, having given a very
handsome account to the owners of the manner how I had saved the lives
of the men, and the ship, they invited me to meet them, and some other
merchants concerned, and all together made me a very handsome compliment
upon the subject, and a present of almost £200 sterling.
But after making several reflections upon the circumstances of my life,
and how little way this would go towards settling me in the world, I
resolved to go to Lisbon, and see if I might not come by some
information of the state of my plantation in the Brazils, and of what
was become of my partner, who, I had reason to suppose, had some years
past given me over for dead. With this view I took shipping for Lisbon,
where I arrived in April following; my man Friday accompanying me very
honestly in all these ramblings, and proving a most faithful servant
upon all occasions. When I came to Lisbon, I found out, by inquiry, and
to my particular satisfaction, my old friend the captain of the ship who
first took me up at sea off the shore of Africa. He was now grown old,
and had left off going to sea, having put his son, who was far from a
young man, into his ship, and who still used the Brazil trade. The old
man did not know me; and, indeed, I hardly knew him: but I soon brought
him to my remembrance, and as soon brought myself to his remembrance,
when I told him who I was.
After some passionate expressions of the old acquaintance between us, I
inquired, you may be sure, after my plantation and my partner. The old
man told me he had not been in the Brazils for about nine years; but
that he could assure me, that when he came away my partner was living;
but the trustees, whom I had joined with him to take cognizance of my
part, were both dead: that, however, he believed I would have a very
good account of the improvement of the plantation; for that upon the
general belief of my being cast away and drowned, my trustees had given
in the account of the produce of my part of the plantation to the
procurator-fiscal, who had appropriated it, in case I never came to
claim it, one-third to the king, and two-thirds to the monastery of St.
Augustine, to be expended for the benefit of the poor, and for the
conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith; but that if I appeared,
or any one for me, to claim the inheritance, it would be restored; only
that the improvement or annual production, being distributed to
charitable uses, could not be restored: but he assured me that the
steward of the king's revenue from lands, and the provedore, or steward
of the monastery, had taken great care all along that the incumbent,
that is to say, my partner, gave every year a faithful account of the
produce, of which they had duly received my moiety. I asked him if he
knew to what height of improvement he had brought the plantation, and
whether he thought it might be worth looking after; or whether, on my
going thither, I should meet with any obstruction to my possessing my
just right in the moiety. He told me he could not tell exactly to what
degree the plantation was improved; but this he knew, that my partner
was grown exceeding rich upon the enjoying his part of it; and that, to
the best of his remembrance, he had heard that the king's third of my
part, which was, it seems, granted away to some other monastery or
religious house, amounted to above two hundred moidores a year: that as
to my being restored to a quiet possession of it, there was no question
to be made of that, my partner being alive to witness my title, and my
name being also enrolled in the register of the country; also he told
me, that the survivors of my two trustees were very fair honest people,
and very wealthy; and he believed I would hot only have their assistance
for putting me in possession, but would find a very considerable sum of
money in their hands for my account, being the produce of the farm while
their fathers held the trust, and before it was given up, as above;
which, as he remembered, was for about twelve years.
I showed myself a little concerned and uneasy at this account, and
inquired of the old captain how it came to pass that the trustees should
thus dispose of my effects, when he knew that I had made my will, and
had made him, the Portuguese captain, my universal heir, &c.
He told me that was true; but that as there was no proof of my being
dead, he could not act as executor, until some certain account should
come of my death; and, besides, he was not willing to intermeddle with a
thing so remote: that it was true he had registered my will, and put in
his claim; and could he have given any account of my being dead or
alive, he would have acted by procuration, and taken possession of the
ingeino, (so they called the sugar-house) and have given his son, who
was now at the Brazils, orders to do it. "But," says the old man, "I
have one piece of news to tell you, which perhaps may not be so
acceptable to you as the rest; and that is, believing you were lost, and
all the world believing so also, your partner and trustees did offer to
account with me, in your name, for six or eight of the first years'
profits, which I received. There being at that time great disbursements
for increasing the works, building an ingeino, and buying slaves, it did
not amount to near so much as afterwards it produced: however," says the
old man, "I shall give you a true account of what I have received in
all, and how I have disposed of it."
After a few days' farther conference with this ancient friend, he
brought me an account of the first six years' income of my plantation,
signed by my partner and the merchant-trustees, being always delivered
in goods, viz. tobacco in roll, and sugar in chests, besides rum,
molasses, &c. which is the consequence of a sugar-work; and I found, by
this account, that every year the income considerably increased; but, as
above, the disbursements being large, the sum at first was small:
however, the old man let me see that he was debtor to me four hundred
and seventy moidores of gold, besides sixty chests of sugar, and fifteen
double rolls of tobacco, which were lost in his ship; he having been
shipwrecked coming home to Lisbon, about eleven years after my leaving
the place. The good man then began to complain of his misfortunes, and
how he had been obliged to make use of my money to recover his losses,
and buy him a share in a new ship. "However, my old friend," says he,
"you shall not want a supply in your necessity; and as soon as my son
returns, you shall be fully satisfied." Upon this, he pulls out an old
pouch, and gives me one hundred and sixty Portugal moidores in gold; and
giving the writings of his title to the ship, which his son was gone to
the Brazils in, of which he was a quarter-part owner, and his son
another, he puts them both into my hands for security of the rest.
I was too much moved with the honesty and kindness of the poor man to be
able to bear this; and remembering what he had done for me, how he had
taken me up at sea, and how generously he had used me on all occasions,
and particularly how sincere a friend he was now to me, I could hardly
refrain weeping at what he had said to me; therefore I asked him if his
circumstances admitted him to spare so much money at that time, and if
it would not straiten him? He told me he could not say but it might
straiten him a little; but, however, it was my money, and I might want
it more than he.
Every thing the good man said was full of affection, and I could hardly
refrain from tears while he spoke; in short, I took one hundred of the
moidores, and called for a pen and ink to give him a receipt for them:
then I returned him the rest, and told him if ever I had possession of
the plantation, I would return the other to him also, (as, indeed, I
afterwards did;) and that as to the bill of sale of his part in his
son's ship, I would not take it by any means; but that if I wanted the
money, I found he was honest enough to pay me; and if I did not, but
came to receive what he gave me reason to expect, I would never have a
penny more from him.
When this was past, the old man asked me if he should put me into a
method to make my claim to my plantation? I told him I thought to go
over to it myself. He said I might do so if I pleased; but that if I did
not, there were ways enough to secure my right, and immediately to
appropriate the profits to my use: and as there were ships in the river
of Lisbon just ready to go away to Brazil, he made me enter my name in a
public register, with his affidavit, affirming, upon oath, that I was
alive, and that I was the same person who took up the land for the
planting the said plantation at first. This being regularly attested by
a notary, and a procuration affixed, he directed me to send it, with a
letter of his writing, to a merchant of his acquaintance at the place;
and then proposed my staying with him till an account came of
the return.
Never was any thing more honourable than the proceedings upon this
procuration; for in less than seven months I received a large packet
from the survivors of my trustees, the merchants, for whose account I
went to sea, in which were the following particular letters and
papers enclosed.
First, There was the account-current of the produce of my farm or
plantation, from the year when their fathers had balanced with my old
Portugal captain, being for six years; the balance appeared to be one
thousand one hundred and seventy-four moidores in my favour.
Secondly, There was the account of four years more, while they kept the
effects in their hands, before the government claimed the
administration, as being the effects of a person not to be found, which
they called civil death; and the balance of this, the value of the
plantation increasing, amounted to nineteen thousand four hundred and
forty-six crusadoes, being about three thousand two hundred and
forty moidores.
Thirdly, There was the prior of Augustine's account, who had received
the profits for above fourteen years; but not being to account for what
was disposed of by the hospital, very honestly declared he had eight
hundred and seventy-two moidores not distributed, which he acknowledged
to my account: as to the king's part, that refunded nothing.
There was a letter of my partner's, congratulating me very
affectionately upon my being alive, giving me an account how the estate
was improved, and what it produced a year; with a particular of the
number of squares or acres that it contained, how planted, how many
slaves there were upon it, and making two and twenty crosses for
blessings, told me he had said so many _Ave Marias_ to thank the blessed
Virgin that I was alive; inviting me very passionately to come over and
take possession of my own; and, in the mean time, to give him orders to
whom he should deliver my effects, if I did not come myself; concluding
with a hearty tender of his friendship, and that of his family; and sent
me, as a present, seven fine leopards' skins, which he had, it seems,
received from Africa, by some other ship that he had sent thither, and
who, it seems, had made a better voyage than I. He sent me also five
chests of excellent sweetmeats, and a hundred pieces of gold uncoined,
not quite so large as moidores. By the same fleet, my two
merchant-trustees shipped me one thousand two hundred chests of sugar,
eight hundred rolls of tobacco, and the rest of the whole account
in gold.
I might well say now, indeed, that the latter end of Job was better than
the beginning. It is impossible to express the flutterings of my very
heart when I found all my wealth about me; for as the Brazil ships come
all in fleets, the same ships which brought my letters brought my goods:
and the effects were safe in the river before the letters came to my
hand. In a word, I turned pale, and grew sick; and had not the old man
run and fetched me a cordial, I believe the sudden surprise of joy had
overset nature, and I had died upon the spot: nay, after that, I
continued very ill, and was so some hours till a physician being sent
for, and something of the real cause of my illness being known, he
ordered me to be let blood; after which I had relief, and grew well: but
I verily believe, if I had not been eased by a vent given in that manner
to the spirits, I should have died.